


Autumn Leaves

by Eri (eri_quin)



Series: Class in Session [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Age Difference, Disney World & Disneyland, F/M, Field Trip, Novella, Older Man/Younger Woman, Senior Trip, Short Story, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Students, Teacher-Student Relationship, principal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-07-27 18:17:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20050441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eri_quin/pseuds/Eri
Summary: The end of senior year. Summer is coming and in the meantime, the last of their youth comes. While Cassandra Ramsey prepares to graduate from high school and enter the time of her newly young adult life, she still has her senior grad trip to Disneyland to go through first.Finding herself alone, since her best friend and sister wasn't able to come on the trip, Cassandra unwittingly and unexpectedly becomes drawn towards the principal of her school -Mr. Alain Rousseau.It's a senior trip to remember and maybe a place of magic will inspire a little something magical..."Can I sit here?"She glanced up with a scowl and then inwardly flinched, smoothing her scowl into a neutral line and nodding an okay to him.Of all the people..."So how are you doing?" he smiled politely at her.She bit the inside of her lip and answered just as politely, "Fine.""Excited for the trip?""Yes."For some reason, she felt like she was utterly and completely screwed the moment the principal decided to sit next to her.





	1. I: A Choice Between This or That

**Author's Note:**

> I decided what the hell and post this here. Hope you guys enjoy?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: This started out as a Self-Insert and to alleviate my own infatuation with my principal years ago, before I decided I still disliked SI stories and just decided to write this as a regular original story XD

Breathing deeply with her dark brown hair covering her face, she almost slept through her alarm if it hadn't been for her sister jumping into her bed.

"Cassie! _Cassie! _Wake up! You're going to be late."

Cassandra groaned, swiping away her sister, who giggled. Her eyes fluttered open slowly, revealing eyes the same color as the hair on her head, a brown that was dazed with sleep still.

"Fair Farah, just five more minutes," she muttered as she closed her eyes again, attempting to have as much dramaticism in it as she could. It was ruined by the fact that she sounded too sleepy for it to sound properly.

Farah laughed and Cassandra reluctantly opened her eyes to see her sister grinning down at her. Brown hair lighter than her own, but with eyes that looked more gray than anything, Farah looked anything but like Cassandra. For one thing, she was more muscular because she was more athletic, but Cassandra had never claimed to like any type of physical activity. She wondered if that contributed to why her sister was always more awake and perky in the mornings, but it could also be because she was adopted and so the reason why morning lucidity escaped Cassandra so easily compared to her.

Yawning, she let Farah yank her up and out of bed before she ended up shooing her out so she could grab her clothes and begin to get ready for her day. After her morning routine, she slowly made her way down the stairs and to the kitchen, still feeling tired and not ready to be awake.

"Ah, I was going to tell Cassie today -" she heard Farah say.

Frowning, she entered the kitchen. "Tell me what?"

Farah looked sheepish. "There you are," she said and Cassandra glanced at her and then their parents suspiciously.

Her mother gave her a reassuring smile, even as she tugged at her father's sleeve. "Come, Terry. Let the girls handle this."

"But Tausa -" her father protested, but a raised eyebrow from her mother made him sigh and follow her out of the kitchen. That just made Cassandra become confuse, looking to Farah for clarification.

Farah cleared her throat and gave her an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, Cassie. I was, um...going to tell you earlier."

"Tell me earlier about what?" she cautiously asked, entering the kitchen more fully and heading towards her.

"So I know the Senior Trip is tomorrow," Farah started nervously, "and we were both looking forward to going to it together."

"Yeah, so?" Anxiety entered her then.

Farah gave her an apologetic look. "I'm not going to be able to go."

Cassandra looked at her sister in shock. "What? Why?"

Her sister winced. "Remember how I was offered a scholarship to Berkeley?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, this Saturday I have to go there and get a tour and stuff," she tried to explain and Cassandra tried not to make a face.

"I-I get it," she forced out. She gave her sister a smile. "It's cool, Farah. This is more important. I don't feel like going anyway. It's probably going to be really hot and crowded, you know?"

Farah shook her head, heading over to her. "Wait, Cassie! Just because I'm not going doesn't mean you don't have to either!"

Cassandra made a face then and gave Farah a look. "It's okay. Really! I don't really care that much to go."

"Just think it over first, alright?" Farah insisted. "Don't make up your mind about it already."

"Okay, okay," Cassandra agreed, though she was already dubious.

But she didn't have any real reason to go.

@};-

All throughout the car ride to school, Cassandra was quiet and lost inthought. She was well aware of the frequent looks from her sister, but she didn't have much else to say about the news she got.

What _would_ she do on the trip without Farah? She didn't really have any friends. She got along well with everyone and could hang out with anyone if she had to, but Farah was her best friend and the only one she really hung out with and did things with. If she went to Disneyland without her, what would she really do there without someone she would've been able to have fun and experience the place with?

Her father fumbled with the radio, eventually landing on a channel with pop music. He hummed along to it and she felt her lips twitch upwards. She looked over to Farah, who was echoing her. Their father always did have the unintentional ability to lighten things up without meaning to.

Whether or not she was going to go, she'd think about it later. It wasn't something she really wanted to think about right then anyway, especially since they had reached their school.

"See ya, Dad!" Farah said, already starting to walk away from the car.

"Bye, Dad," she said quietly.

"Goodbye, Sweet Pea," he smiled at her. "Don't think too much about the trip. It's not something you should stress too much about."

She knew that, but somehow it was still bothering her.

Leaving him behind, she caught up with her sister, who had been slightly ahead of her already but had slowed down to let her catch up.

"What took you so long?," Farah poked her.

Cassandra shrugged. "Missed me already?" she stuck her tongue out at her.

Farah huffed. "You haven't been gone long enough," she stuck her tongue right back out at Cassandra. She looked at her watch. "Got to go, Cassie. See you later?"

"Yeah, see you," she said, smiling until her sister had left her sight. Then she dropped it and kept walking on slowly. Her thoughts were going to cycle right back around to that stupid trip.

A commotion around the corner met her ears and when she turned around it, she saw a small group of students standing around a tall man, one of his hands awkwardly scratching the back of his auburn head. When he glanced up and saw her, his amber colored eyes met her dark brown ones, and he smiled politely and gave a small wave with the hand that had been scratching his head in bemusement. She gave a shy smile back and continued on her way past them.

Principal Alain Rousseau was relatively new, having been at Northwest High for only three years. Despite his semi-formal appearance, always with a button up shirt and tie with dress pants, he'd always been slightly awkward and yet somewhat popular with the student body. She hadn't had much personal interaction with him, but she knew he was nice enough and always had time to talk to students.

At that moment, the bell rung and signaled that school was about to start, so she hurried to her first class of the day and did her best to clear her thoughts of the trip and of the principal.

@};-

Despite school being part of her preoccupation, she hadn't been able to shake off thoughts of the school trip all day like she'd wanted. She'd sit in class trying to pay attention, but would suddenly drift off and think about whether or not it was worth going. Her family could use the money if she didn't go, and that'd be double since both she and Farah wouldn't be going. Farah wasn't going, so she definitely had no urge to go now anyway. There was that she wouldn't really have anyone to hang out with, even if she did decide to go. There would be no fun in going on the trip and just going around Disneyland on her own and have no one to have fun with. If she did go with others, she wasn't really close enough with them to have fun and might end up being a "third wheel" and just some hanger-on.

Even as Economics finished up, Cassandra was still debating with herself on whether or not she should go on the trip without Farah. As far as she was concerned, she had no actual desire to go without her. She had always gone everywhere and done practically everything with Farah. It just didn't seem like she would be okay and enjoy herself there without her.

Her arm was being yanked all of a sudden, but before she could yell at who it was, she saw her sister hurriedly dragging her off.

"Hey! You could just yell my name or tap my arm, you know?" Cassandra yelped.

"You were too distracted and you get terribly lost in thought for a while," Farah pointed out. "And it's _really_ hard to get you out of your thoughts."

"Really?" she asked in surprise, having not known that.

"Yep."

By then, Farah had managed to drag her into an empty classroom. She turned to Cassandra and held her shoulders.

"Go on the trip," she said firmly.

"What? Why?"

Farah lightly pushed at Cassandra's arm. "Come on, Cassie. You hardly do anything. And this is our Senior Year! Our Senior Trip! It's once in a lifetime kind of thing, you know? Don't miss out on things. I have something to do, so it can't be helped, but you should go and have fun. Create some memories, you dork."

Cassandra bit her lip, looking searchingly into her sister's eyes.

"I...O-okay," she hesitantly agreed.

Farah was practically beaming at her. "Good! Have fun! Enough for the both of us, yeah?"

Well, Cassandra would at least try, even if it was just for her sister's sake.


	2. II: Two by Two

"CASSIE! WAKE UP OR YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!"

At Farah's yell, Cassandra woke up abruptly and shot up in bed, nearly falling off of it in her surprise. Calming her beating heart, she looked over at her clock and winced. She still had fifteen more minutes before her alarm was supposed to wake her. Sighing to herself, she made herself get off the bed and then go to the bathroom, snatching up the clothes she'd prepared the night before.

"You suck, Farah!"

"I love you too!"

Grumbling as she turned on the shower, she quickly shed her clothes and got into the shower once the water had warmed up. Yawning, she tried to get herself ready through her drowsiness, still mentally cursing out her sister for waking her up early. She probably spent much longer in there than she should've, but it was nice and hot and she was still pretty sleepy. When she finally shut off the water, she toweled herself down quickly and dressed up after, fumbling with her socks as she reentered her room. Farah was already in there, sitting on Cassandra's bed and fussing over the bag she'd packed the night before.

"I'm not moving or anything," she rolled her eyes.

"You can be forgetful though," Farah said absentmindedly. "You don't have extra underwear."

Face turning red, she swatted at Farah's head and tugged her bag away.

"Okay, okay! I'll stuff some extra underwear in here. Stop being so embarrassing."

Farah looked around and then teased, "Embarrassed in front of who? Dork, I'm the only one here."

"I don't have to be embarrassed in front of anyone. I can get embarrassed still, just because you're being unbearable," Cassandra said.

"Girls! Hurry up! We'll be leaving soon!" they heard their father.

"Just double check you've got everything you need," Farah said sternly. "You'll be gone for a bit. Even if it's not for long, you never know what you might need."

"Alright, just let me finish up in here then. Meet you downstairs in a couple of minutes. Tell Dad to stop fussing."

Farah agreed and she began shifting through her bag. She was pretty sure she got the basics, though she did decide to throw in a brush in there. After, like she said, Cassandra went down and met up with her family, clutching onto her duffle bag anxiously. They piled into the car and then Cassandra's father started driving, heading to the meeting point.

Seeing all the huge, nice-looking buses all parked in the middle of the empty parking lot of the grocery warehouse, Cassandra's nerves grew even more.

"Time to go, Sweet Pea," her father said, getting out of the car and grabbing her bag. "I'll get this packed into your bus and see where you'll go."

She handed him her bag and then watched as he walked off with it in the direction of some of the other adults, who'd grouped together and seemed to be discussing something.

"Sefina," her mother called out softly and at the sound of her mother's nickname for her, Cassandra felt herself minutely relax. She looked at her mom, whose honey brown hair was pulled up while she wore a simple shirt with a lavalava. Tausa'afia Ramsey was a beautiful person that Cassandra had always wished she'd grow into being as pretty as her, and as smart and graceful as her mother had always shown herself to be. Both Farah and her had grown up watching their mother be this amazing woman.

"Yes, Mom?" she asked quietly.

Her mother leaned over her seat and ran a hand through Cassandra's hair, smiling sweetly. "You'll have fun. Take lots of pictures for your dad and I, okay? I love you and be careful."

Smiling back, she nodded. Even if she was still uncertain, her mother always gave the best reassurances. She got out of the car and her mother and sister followed, just as Cassandra looked over to where her father was —her eyes instead caught familiar amber eyes. Looking into the eyes of Principal Rousseau, she felt like a deer in headlights.

She saw him smile at her and her breath caught. His smile pulled a smile out of her and she idly thought that he'd always had a nice smile.

@};-

She led the way to the buses, when her father met up with them. He pointed to the last bus.

"That one's yours, Cassie. You'll be fine?"

She smiled nervously. "Yeah...yeah, I'm good."

Farah hugged her tightly. "You better be. Don't forget souvenirs!"

"I'll try," she said dryly, but she grinned at her sister and winked.

"Sefina, I love you. Be good and have fun," her mother told her again and she couldn't help leaning over and hugging her tightly.

"Love you, Mom."

"Me too!" her father laughed and joined in, wrapping his arms around the two of them. Farah joined in too, and Cassandra fake-gasped.

"You guys are going to suffocate me."

They all laughed at her and let go, but she glanced at the bus and then at them, wondering if she really would be alright on her own. She had never been on her own before.

"Go on," Farah lightly pushed her and she took a deep breath, glancing back at them before she started to walk to the bus's door, walking in by herself.

In the bus, she looked around and noticed how full it practically was already. Glancing around, the only empty seats were three upfront. There were the two seats next to each other, which were completely empty, and the other empty seat had the seat next to it occupied with a person already sitting next to the window. Preferring window seat herself, she went to the two empty seats side by side and sat down at the window seat.

Everyone seemed to have kept to their friends and were chatting amiably, making her feel slightly lonely. She was cold too, which was already making the start of the trip less than ideal.

At that moment, one of the teachers —Ms. Le —walked onto the bus. She whistled and called everyone to attention, and unfortunately seemed to have made sure their idea of fun was cut short as soon as she made the announcement.

"Okay, guys, listen up! We're splitting the teachers up so that each bus will contain at least two escorts!"

The students groaned loudly, complaints erupting from them. Cassandra winced, trying to ignore the noise. She got that this was supposed to be their senior trip and they were supposed to have fun, and she supposed they all thought with a bunch of babysitters, there was no way for that to happen. She just hoped she would be able to have fun at all. She didn't even know if she wanted anyone to be around, especially right now to sit with her.. At least, since no one would want to sit in the front, she'd be able to sit alone.

Then again, she hadn't counted on the fact each bus would be full, and therefore she'd _have_ to sit with someone.

She saw both Ms. Le and Principal Alain enter the bus, and she looked down in dread. She knew there were two seats left. One by her and one by that other student.

"Can I sit here?"

She glanced up with a scowl and then inwardly flinched, smoothing her scowl into a neutral line and nodding an okay to him.

Of all the people...

"So how are you doing?" he smiled politely at her.

She bit the inside of her lip and answered just as politely, "Fine."

"Excited for the trip?"

"Yes."

He frowned slightly at her one-worded answers, but then went back to smiling politely, turning to the front.

For some reason, she felt like she was utterly and completely screwed the moment the principal decided to sit next to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to update all the current chapters I have on Wattpad to here today~  
I hope everyone enjoys!


	3. III: Fill in the Blanks

The bus started pulling out of the parking lot, all passengers securely seated and accounted for. One by one, the buses trailed after each other, heading for Disneyland. Other than the administrator next to her, there was only Ms. Le there as well, so Cassandra guessed that for the two chaperones on the buses meant that they got to have the principal and counselor on theirs.

"Alright, Mr. Rousseau and I are here to supervise Group C, which is this bus. We're going to take a pit stop at a rest stop and then we'll be traveling the whole day until we reach the restaurant our school made reservations at. We'll head out again after, so that early tomorrow morning we'll already be at our destination. Probably by then you guys can choose to sleep for a bit at the hotel, or head on straight to Disneyland. Get comfortable, this is going to be a long ride! And as of this trip, for at least the two of us, all of you are allowed to call all of us by our first names. So no Ms. Le or Mr. Rousseau!"

Amidst the explosion of excited whispering, Cassandra didn't take any note of it and stared outside, though inwardly she did wonder what was up with the names.

"I didn't get your name," her seatmate said, calling her attention to him.

"Um...it's Cassandra," she mumbled.

"Ah, I see. Well, you heard Willow, right? You can call me Alain."

She took a glance at him before turning to look out the window and blushing quite heavily.

"Okay," she agreed, her words mumbled again.

The ride went on in silence between them, the chatter around them making up for the lack of talk.

"It's cold!" someone complained from the back.

Cassandra frowned, remembering again why she had been annoyed to find that blankets and pillows weren't allowed on the bus. She'd complained to Farah about it before her sister had told her she wasn't coming on the trip. She folded her legs underneath her and then shoved the large sweater she wore over them. Leaning against the window, she tried forcing herself to sleep. Still cold, she went to sleep shivering a little.

Unbeknownst to her, he quietly took off his jacket and pulled her away from the window for a second to put it around her. Letting her go back to the same position, he kept his gaze on her until he too fell asleep.

@};-

The bus jolted some time later, waking up one of the two in the front. Cassandra groaned, wincing as she felt her right shoulder feel sore from leaning against the side of the bus. She paused, feeling an unfamiliar weight on her other shoulder and turned to see the cause. 

Her eyes widened as she caught sight of Mr. —_Alain_ heavily leaning on her, deep in sleep. Squeaking involuntarily, she tried to keep silent after that, fearing he'd wake. Biting her lip, she waited a few seconds before letting out a relieved sigh.

Snuggling into his jacket, which she admitted was comfortable and warm (and smelled kind of like...coconut butter?), she fished out her phone and went searching through it for something to do. Finding a crossword game on there, she started it up and began to play it. She wasn't able to go to sleep, so she might as well do something to occupy herself.

At a certain part though, she came up with a blank and was getting frustrated trying to think of an answer.

"It's _la coeur_."

She nearly jumped in her seat, startled at the sudden answer coming from her left. Looking over, she saw Alain looking at her phone then to her.

"The French word for heart," he told her. "That's the answer. Maybe take off the 'la' if it doesn't fit in the spaces though."

Cassandra hadn't even noticed he'd woken up. How long had he been awake?

"You're awake?" she asked awkwardly.

"Obviously," he said in amusement. He sat up and pointed at her phone. "Are you going to put in the answer?"

"Oh! Yes, I am," she said while typing it in.

"Do you mind my help?" he asked and when she shook her head, he gave her a wide smile that made him look even more handsome.

She mentally erased those thoughts, focusing instead on the crossword that he was beginning to help her out with. The two of them began going back and forth on some clues, while mildly debating on others. Sometimes one of them knew the answer for sure and other times both of them were clueless and kind of cheated by using Alain's phone to look up the answer.

Time passed by like that and soon enough the bus jolted again, letting them become aware of it coming to a stop.

"We're at the rest stop already?" he asked.

She nodded and watched as he straightened up and looked around.

"We should go, since everyone else is asleep," he suggested, seeing everyone had gone from terribly excited to asleep in those few hours they'd been traveling.

She nodded again and followed him off the bus, reaching the rest stop. They split up to go to their respective bathrooms, and there Cassandra found time to go to the sink and splash some water on her face. She was really tired after all that and wasn't sure how to take having spent the entire ride so far either asleep in her principal's jacket or solving crosswords with him.


	4. IV: Ahoy There!

More awake, she went out of the bathrooms to the rest area. She was surprised to see Alain waiting for her, and nervously walked towards him as he waved slightly to her. 

"You look more awake," he commented cheerily.

She gave him a small smile that he looked pleased with.

"I'll have a look around, so I'll see you in a bit, okay?" he said and she agreed, watching him leave before heading towards the little diner conjoined with the rest stop. She sat at a booth and then was handed a menu, ordering a water while she thought on what she'd order in the meanwhile. However, someone came and sat across from her and she saw it was Alain.

"There you are," he said. "I was wondering where you went off to."

"You looked around already?" she asked.

He nodded. "It's pretty small around here, so there wasn't much to see. Some of the others are waking up and using the restrooms and all."

He looked over at the menu she had, peering over the table. "Since we'll probably be here for a while for the latecomers, we should get something hot to drink," he suggested. "It's cold after all."

Remembering how cold she was in the bus, she looked over at the beverages. "Sounds good to me," she said, glancing at him and trying not to be so...timid? Shy? She really didn't know how to describe it, but around him, she felt out of sorts. She wished Farah was there and she could talk to her about how she was feeling and acting, because right now Cassandra felt awkward with Alain.

They sat together at the booth and waited for the waitress to come, and when she did the two of them ordered a coffee and hot chocolate respectively, still uncomfortably in a silent tension.

He was the first to try breaking the silence, asking her, "So what's your favorite food?"

She was confused at the sudden questioning, but she still answered him. "Um, I really love my mom's breadfruit. I like eating buttered croissants too. What about you?"

"I'm very fond of fruits," he confessed. "But I adore all sorts of sandwiches. I also have a weak spot for Chinese, especially chow mein."

It made Cassandra smile. "I like the pan fried noodles."

They shared a laugh and Cassandra felt her stomach sort of flutter, more so as she watched his face light up.

"What's your favorite book?" she blurted out, wanting to know more about him.

"_Maniac Magee_," he said quickly.

"Me too!" she sat up straight, saying excitedly. "It was one of the first books I read."

He burst out into excited French, causing her eyes to go wide and stare at him in shock. He stopped abruptly and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, a gesture she remembered him doing yesterday at school.

"Sorry," he said. "Sometimes I get like that."

Cassandra gave him a small smile, tentatively pushing at his shoulder playfully.

"It's cute," she dared to say, surprised to see red bloom on his cheeks. "I forgot you were, um, French?"

He nodded, returning her smile. "_Oui, Mademoiselle_," he teased. "My mother and father were from France. They moved to here and then I was born soon after. May I ask where you are from?"

"I'm from here," she grinned at him, making him laugh. "My father was born and raised in America, and though so is my mom, her family is from Samoa."

They began trading family stories and she was surprised how at ease she was then, even when sharing personal stuff with him. It was strange —here she'd been dreading this trip and not wanting to go without Farah, and she found herself actually having fun already, even though she wasn't even at Disneyland yet. And it was with Mr. Rousseau at that!

"We'd most likely get paired up for the activities," he suddenly revealed.

"Huh?" she asked confusedly, snapping out of her thoughts.

He chuckled. "Well, while you students get to choose who you're bunking with, walking around the trip is supposed to be with the person you're sitting with on the bus."

"But that doesn't make sense."

"It was a suggestion and guideline that was set up for the trip, and wasn't all that popular to begin with. It's not like the students listen anyway. Everyone will probably break off and meet with their friends. The teachers will probably do the same."

Cassandra sighed and sipped her mug of hot chocolate, reveling in the warmth. She glanced at him thoughtfully. "Who're you hanging out with?"

Alain looked at her in surprise but answered, "No one in particular. I'll probably walk around a little, but stay at the hotel."

She furrowed her eyebrows together. "But this trip is supposed to be fun. It'll be a waste if you just do that."

He shrugged and smiled nonchalantly.

She sighed again, "I kind of didn't really want to go after knowing my sister couldn't go. I was probably going to be alone, but I might as well hang out with you." Looking at him though and remembering their time together so far, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

He laughed lightly and smirked in good humor. "Guess we get to be stuck with each other anyway."

She hmphed and turned away, ignoring her red face. Her heart, again, was acting stupid and beating too fast.

@};-

After finishing up their drinks, they headed out and used the bathroom again. When they met up, she saw the Carl's Jr. across from the rest stop and pointed it out.

"I'd like to go there before we leave," she told him.

He shrugged and followed her to the fast food restaurant, where she made a beeline for the cashier.

"I'd like to have all of those," she declared, pointing at the display case.

The cashier blinked. "All of them?"

"Yes, please!"

So while the cashier began piling the packaged cookies into a bag, Alain sidled up to her and eyed the proceedings.

"You're really going to buy all of those?"

She frowned at him. "Yeah? So?"

He chuckled. "You should share," he said. "That's quite a lot for one little girl."

"Never! They're so good," she said in response to his teasing. "I won't even share with my sister, so of course I won't share with you!"

He held his hands to his heart. "Ouch! And here I thought we were bonding."

"Not enough for me to share my cookie load."

Alain laughed and shook his head. "Come on then, Cass. Hurry up and pay, so we can get going."

Her heart thudded fast and hard in her chest. Did he just...?

No one had ever called her that before. Her father either called her Cassie like her sister, or Sweet Pea. Her mother, of course, tended to call her Sefina because it was the shortened version of Iosefina, her middle name. Everyone just tended to stick to Cassie, if they didn't bother with Cassandra. But Cass...

She liked it and she liked it even more because it came out of his mouth. And the way it sounded coming from his voice...

"Alright, alright, Alain. I'm almost done," she said.

"You said my name!" he said in delight. "See? I knew we were getting close. How about a cookie now?"

"Nope," she said and she smirked at him before grabbing her bag and hurrying away from him.

"But Cass!"

Her laughter trailed behind her.

Having reached the bus after that, she settled into her seat before Alain entered the bus, looking winded. She looked at him innocently, causing him to roll his eyes as he traveled over to his seat and plopped down, his long limbs going slightly askew. Once he had gotten comfortable, she held out the plastic-wrapped cookie. He blinked at her.

"Are you giving that to me?"

She snickered. "Yeah, yeah. Here."

He took the cookie and unwrapped it, nibbling at it already.

"It _is_ good," he agreed. "I might have to convince you to give me another one somehow."

"If you say so," she said. "So what next?"

"Probably the restaurant," he told her. "We'll have dinner there and then head all the way to the hotel, which is near to the park. Everyone will have some time to sleep before the shuttles will take us to Disneyland, unless there are those who sleep in and will take the later shuttles."

Cassandra opened her mouth to say something about that, when the bus shook and then began moving, indicating time was up at the rest stop.

"Suppose we'll be there soon?" she asked.

"Soon," he replied.

"Great, I'm starving," she mused and heard him chuckle. She glanced at him and felt her belly do flip flops at the warm look he was directing at her.

"What? Not enough cookies to sate you?" he teased.

Her cheeks turned red. "N-no!" Instinctively, like she would with her family, she shoved at his arm halfheartedly before blinking and taking her hand back quickly, remembering she'd done something similar (if lighter) earlier. "Sorry."

He shook his head, now grinning. "Look at you! Just not too long ago you were giving me one-worded answers. Now I've finally upgraded to being shoved at. I feel so accomplished."

She sighed in exasperation, but gave him a shrug. "What can I say? I've grown fond of you, you overgrown idiot," she bravely decided to say.

Chuckling even more, he held up his own phone. "Trivia?"

She brightened up. "Okay!"

If she leaned in a little closer, it was only just so she could see his screen a bit better. But the smell of coconut butter drifted slightly from him, and she couldn't help inhaling deeply...

Eventually, she fell asleep to it, leaning heavily against his arm.

@};-

When she awoke, it was to Alain gently shaking her awake. She was mortified to find that she'd fallen asleep against him, and he hadn't woken her up or at least moved her away. She was grateful he didn't say anything about it, and she just followed him off of the bus, seeing the restaurant they were supposed to be eating at.

It was, to her amusement, a pirate-themed restaurant called Pirates Dinner Adventure. She subtly elbowed Alain.

"Pirates?" she asked, thoroughly entertained.

"Yo-ho," he deadpanned and she giggled.

She'd have to take lots of pictures, which she'd been remised in doing so far. Not that she'd been doing much yet, aside from the rest stop. And she really wouldn't have wanted to take many pictures there, considering she'd just went around hanging out with Alain —not really something she should advertise to her family in hindsight. She could already hear Farah pestering her about it.

"Go on in," he told her. "I have to check in with the others."

Feeling oddly disappointed, she nodded at him and then slipped into the restaurant with the other students. Shuffled in and shown to their seats, she noticed a few students to her left that she recognized from around school and looked to her right, just as someone sat there. Seeing Alain, she felt relief at a familiar face that she was comfortable with.

"Do we get menus?" she whispered.

"No. It's a pre-ordered group meal," he said. "The adult meal choice, which has complimentary appetizers they'll pass around soon enough, salad or soup as starters, and roasted chicken leg and thigh, shrimp and vegetable skewers, and mashed potatoes and mixed veggies. I don't know if dessert is included, but I heard they have a tres leches cake."

"I guess we'll be eating during the show?"

"The appetizers are before, but the rest, yes."

They stopped talking then, as the appetizers did come. Cassandra took a bite and didn't mind the food; it wasn't all that bad actually. After a minute or two though, it looked like the show was starting.

"I guess we'll be watching the Loch Ness Monster in action," she heard Alain comment and she choked on her food.

"What?" she turned to him.

He grinned and gestured to the stage. "They've got three shows they do. There's their Christmas show, the one with vampire pirates, and the one I think we're watching with the Loch Ness Monster."

Cassandra bit back a smile, but probably failed at the look on Alain's face.

"Mr. Rousseau! Look over there, the pirates are sword fighting!"

She winced, sharply reminded that she wasn't alone with him and that maybe she was being a little too casual in front of others. As the show begun to get going, she withdrew within herself a little and missed the worried look Alain shot towards her.

"Hi, you're Cassie, right?" the student to her left asked. She had pretty green eyes that went well with her strawberry blonde hair, and an obvious cheerful disposition. "I'm Henley! I'm in your Economics class."

Startled, she gave her a smile, memory jogged up to remember. "Right, you usually sit at the front."

Henley laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, my parents insisted to the school —my attention span's crap, you know? I've got to be front and center, so I can pay attention to everything." She glanced around Cassandra. "You sit with Mr. Rousseau on the bus too, right? How's that? Is it really awkward? I know he's the principal and all..."

Cassandra gave an awkward smile, glancing at him. He looked distracted. "It's alright? I mean, we've mostly been solving crosswords and doing trivia together on our phones."

Henley giggled. "Really? That's so cute!"

What?

Cassandra blushed and coughed. "No, it's —" but she was cut off as lights shone on her and on several others.

"Yo-ho, yo-ho, mateys! May our lads and lassies come aboard the ship and be our trusty volunteers for our show?"

"Oh! You get to go on stage," Henley exclaimed. "That's exciting. Go on!"

"Ah, but, I don't know if I —" she was cut off again by a nudge to her right and saw Alain giving her an encouraging look.

"Go do it," he said. "Have some fun with it."

She bit her lip, but steeled herself. She was supposed to be having fun. It's what Farah told her to do and what she should be doing.

"Okay," she muttered, more to herself than anything. She stood up and followed a lot of the others that were picked to the pirate ship stage. However, before she could say or do anything (wondering what she was _supposed_ to do up there), she was dragged further in and then suddenly she was taken hostage.

"Argh! I got me a beautiful lass! You'll be sacrificed to the Loch Ness Monster for passage!"

She blinked. What did she get herself into?

"Hey, make sure to give a good scream and beg for help, okay?" the pirate holding her whispered into her ear.

She laughed in her head. Okay, she could do that. She screamed as loud as possible and then struggled in his hold.

"Help! Oh _please_ someone help!" she screamed out as dramatically as she could.

"Only a Siren's voice can save ye now, lassie!" and then into her ear, "It doesn't matter if you can sing or not, just try something. Sing whatever you want. Or rap. You can always rap. It's all in good fun!"

Though she wasn't much of a singer in her opinion, she thought why not? All in, right?

Since they were on the way to Disneyland, maybe something matching would do? Remembering that one scene with the mermaids in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, she got an idea. A Siren's voice, huh.

She opened her mouth and began to sing, ignoring her nerves by focusing on the lyrics and trying not to forget them.

_"Upon one summer's morning, I carelessly did stray,_  
_Down by the Walls of Wapping, where I met a sailor gay,_  
_Conversing with a bouncing lass, who seem'd to be in pain,  
_ _Saying, William, when you go, I fear you will ne'er return again~_ _"_

Her voice cracked for a second and she winced at that, but she kept on, though aware it had gone silent and feeling herself start to grow embarrassed again.

_"His hair it does in ringlets hang, his eyes as black as sloes,_  
_May happiness attend him wherever he goes,_  
_From Tower Hill, down to Blackwall, I will wander, weep and moan,_  
_All for my jolly sailor bold, until he does return._  
__   
_"My father is a merchant—the truth I now will tell,_  
_And in great London City in opulence doth dwell,_  
_His fortune doth exceed _ _₤300,000 in gold,_  
_And he frowns upon his daughter, 'cause she loves a sailor bold._  
  
_"A fig for his riches, his merchandise, and gold,_  
_True love is grafted in my heart; give me my sailor bold:_  
_Should he return in poverty, from o'er the ocean far,  
_ _To my tender bosom, I'll fondly press my jolly tar._

_"My sailor is as smiling as the pleasant month of May,_  
_And oft we have wandered through Ratcliffe Highway,_  
_Where many a pretty blooming girl we happy did behold,  
_ _Reclining on the bosom of her jolly sailor bold._

_"Come all you pretty fair maids, whoever you may be_  
_Who love a jolly sailor bold that ploughs the raging sea,_  
_While up aloft, in storm or gale, from me his absence mourn,  
_ _And firmly pray, arrive the day, he home will safe return._

_"My name it is Maria, a merchant's daughter fair,_  
_And I have left my parents and three thousand pounds a year,_  
_My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold,  
_ _There is nothing can console me but my jolly sailor bold~_ _"_

She opened her eyes, having shut them sometime in the sea shanty, and saw everything was silent and still. Completely embarrassed now, she could feel her face heat up and she wished she could hide behind something.

"A real Siren!" her pirate burst out, restarting production and tugging her over to the side of the ship. "Curse ye! Off the plank, ye enchanted creature!"

Instead of being "walked off the plank", she found instead she was being rescued. She was tossed a sword, which was light and pretty much fake, but she laughed and began sword fighting with her pirate partner. The ship rocked and then the Loch Ness Monster appeared, and she screamed as was appropriate, before she leaped off the ship with everyone.

As that was the end of the show, she and the other volunteers headed back to their seats. She saw, on either side of her empty seat, Henley and Alain clapping and giving her grins that she was finding herself enthusiastically reciprocating.

"Told you you'd enjoy it," Alain said.

Henley nodded eagerly. "Haha! Mr. Rousseau's right. You looked like you had a lot of fun."

"I...I did," she said in surprise.

She _had_ enjoyed herself, and for the first time, she thought that maybe she really wouldn't regret going on this trip on her own.


	5. V: A Quiet Confession

The students all were hollering and the excitement seemed to have been reinvigorated in them. Cassandra was grinning widely as well, feeling more energized and hopeful than she had starting this trip —than she could have hoped she'd be.

"Having a good time finally?" Alain nudged her arm as he caught up and walked by her side.

"I think I am," she giggled. "I don't know. I didn't really think I'd have fun on this trip."

He looked surprised by that. "Why not?" He smirked all of a sudden. "Thought things would be boring because you're stuck with me?"

She huffed and then laughed. "No, no. You're fun, I promise," she held up her hands, wiggling her fingers. They'd reached the bus and she entered first and headed in, followed by Alain. Once seated though, she continued her answer to him. "My sister was supposed to be on this trip. I really wanted her to come since she's my best friend and we always have fun and do things together."

"She couldn't go?" he asked, tilting his head.

She found her eyes watching strands of his hair swaying. She blinked and refocused. "She had to cancel last minute —her college sent her a notice that she'd have to be there Saturday. Something about a tour and stuff she needs to do."

"Good for her," he nodded. He looked at her though, noting, "You're happy for her but still upset because she's not here and you didn't think you'd have anyone to be with on the trip."

She blushed, kind of not expecting him to hit the nail so spot on. "Yeah, pretty much."

He winked at her. "Well, I don't think I'm _that_ bad a company, so I hope you don't mind me as a stand-in until you get back to her."

Cassandra felt her heart hammering in her chest, while she felt her lips stretching into the widest smile she thought she'd ever had, ironically made involuntarily.

"Sure, why not?" she let herself smirk and wink back. "We might even be able to take over Disneyland."

Alain full out laughed and held out his hand. "It's a deal!"

She reached and grabbed his hand, feeling how warm it was while it encased her smaller hand in his.

"A deal," she found herself saying breathlessly.

What on Earth was wrong with her?

@};-

They reached the hotel with everyone in a good mood, even the teachers. The students were rowdy but not excessive as they entered the hotel, with two of the teachers heading to check everyone in. Cassandra lingered around the entrance, looking around and feeling a little bit bored and lonely, seeing as how Alain had ended up being one of the ones to check in with the hotel staff.

"Hey, it's going to be five to a room," Henley walked up to her and told her. "You want to room with me and my friends? There's just four of us, so I thought I'd ask if you'd want to be the last roomie," the blonde asked her chirpily.

"Oh! T-thanks. That would be nice," Cassandra said.

"Cool! I've got our room key already, so we can head there now. I think most of us are going to sleep, though some students are probably going to stay up. Our group's all tired out, so we'll probably be knocked out as soon as our heads hit the pillows. What about you?"

"I'll probably be asleep too."

"Okay, let's head in then."

She started following her and she only moved her head slightly, seeing Alain talking to the others. Their eyes caught each others and he smiled at her. She found herself smiling again and gave him a small wave.

After a bit of walking, they met up with the other girls and Henley introduced them.

"This is Cecily," Henley pointed to a short, fair-skinned girl with glasses. "This is Georgie," she pointed to a redhead with a bright shade of green for eyes. "And this is Ritz, short for Ritsu, and that's Tory," she pointed to an Asian girl and then an African American girl that was the tallest of the group. "Ritz is into photography and Tory and Georgie are on the girls basketball team. Cecily is in Band."

"And you?" Cassandra asked Henley.

"Me? I'm in... Club Nothing," Henley then laughed, shrugging.

"Me too," Cassandra said, laughing with her and feeling the tension in her body ease.

"Club Nothing sounds relaxing," Ritz told them mock seriously. "I might just join."

"Naw, you're too obsessed with taking photos. I think she might end up a stalker or something. She is _damn_ good at getting photos of unsuspecting people or catching situations," Georgie chimed in.

"I just have good timing," Ritz raised an eyebrow.

Most of the girls there coughed and looked away, making Cassandra choke on her laughter.

"Come on, come on! I'm tired," Cecily pouted. "Let's hit the sack already. I'm looking forward to some awesome fun!"

"You're hanging out with Mr. Alain, right?" Henley asked as they started walking.

That caught the other girls' attention and they looked at Cassandra in interest. She immediately flushed red.

"Y-yeah," she stammered. "We're just going to walk around probably."

"That should be interesting," Tory looked amused.

"Or boring. He _is _the principal after all," Ritz pointed out.

"Ah, our room!" Henley exclaimed, seeing their door number.

"Finally!" Cecily sighed happily.

Cassandra followed after them, thinking about what they'd said though.

@};-

She tossed and turned, finding herself unable to sleep. Her mind was too awake and thinking too much, and she was still stuck over what the other girls had said. Deciding enough was enough, she slipped out of bed and quietly went over to her shoes, slipping them on as she did her best to silently exit the room. Closing the door as quietly as she could behind her, she started aimlessly walking. It was quiet and no one seemed to be around, so she guessed that somehow the teachers managed to wrangle the other students into their rooms and convince them to go to bed and get some rest.

Wishing she could do the same, she continued to walk around morosely until she found a balcony and sat down on one of the chairs.

"Hey, you," she heard and she turned in her seat to see Alain looking at her in surprise. "What're you doing up? Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"Tired but can't sleep," she shrugged helplessly. "Trust me, I would be sleeping right now if I could."

He walked towards her, handing her a plastic spoon and a chocolate pudding cup. He held up a second one and shook it, sitting down next to her.

"A pick me up," he said dryly. "You can have that one."

"Thanks," she said, feeling awkward. Her cheeks grew warm, but she focused on opening her pudding.

For a bit, they just sat there and enjoyed their pudding. Then he turned to her, only to be interrupted.

"Alain? Is that you?" Ms. Le —Willow came around a corner and spotted them. She glanced at Cassandra and smiled at her, before focusing back on Alain. "There's trouble with some students. Would you come help out?"

Alain stood up. "Yeah, I'll head there. Anyone there yet?"

"I think Brooke was there with Terry, but there's several problems going on right now."

He sighed. "Got it. I'll be there."

Willow nodded and left, and Cassandra watched her leave, wondering what was going on. Alain turned to her.

"I'll be back," he promised. "If you get sleepy though, head to bed."

"Okay," she said softly, biting on her lip.

He gave her a reassuring smile. "It's probably nothing. You kids are always up to no good after all, so it's not anything unusual. I'll be back before you know it."

Alain left after she gave him a small grin, hiding her troubled thoughts. Once he was gone though, she growled under her breath and furiously rubbed at her eyes. What was she _doing_?

She couldn't understand what was wrong with her. Her heart was acting strangely and she kept blushing too much. There was this undeniable urge to happily grin unrestrainedly in Alain's presence, and she couldn't help the irrational longing to lean in closer to him whenever he was near. She'd grown used to it in the bus, but she knew it wasn't normal or would look right to others. The things they would think of —!

She inhaled sharply and shut down her thoughts. She was being ridiculous. Nothing was wrong, nothing was going on. She was just getting along with the principal of her school —getting along _really_ well with him, but that was all there was to it. Really.

There was nothing going on at all.

"Hey, I'm back!"

She faced him and felt her breath just stolen from her as he gave her one of his usual soft smiles, this time accompanied with his eyes lighting up as he saw her.

"What happened?" she asked faintly, inwardly scrambling to get a hold of herself.

He tiredly sat down next to her. "You wouldn't believe what was going on! One room had kids smoking weed, one hallway had two students getting into an argument and about to get into a physical fight, and another two students were caught having, uh, you know," he glanced at her awkwardly. "Yeah...doing things they shouldn't be. Anyway, the way this trip is going, a lot of students are going to be in trouble when we get back."

"Sounds hectic," she said, imagining the chaos.

But even as she did, she watched him closely, lingering on the features of his face and especially his ever-present smile.

She had been lying. Despite it all, she had to quietly acknowledge her feelings, knowing that she shouldn't but somehow had grown affectionate of this man next to her.

She was a student though, so it was a hopeless situation. All she could do was accept she felt this way.


	6. VI: It's a Small World After All

When Cassandra woke up, she didn't know if she'd even slept. It hadn't felt like it at least. Troubled by the events of last night and her problematic thoughts, she felt like she stayed up the entire night.

Looking around the dark room, she let out a sigh and started to get ready for the morning. It was bright and early, looking at the time, so she was guessing the shuttles were already waiting to take students to Disneyland. She might as well take one there.

For a moment, she contemplated looking around and waiting for Alain, since she was supposed to go around with him, but then she remembered her feelings and thought that it was probably best to go on ahead on her own.

Once she was done getting ready, she left the room and headed downstairs, where a few students were already awake. Some were talking, probably waiting for others, and then there were others already heading towards the entrance and talking animatedly to each other. She glanced at the entrance too and was about to head there when she heard her name being called out near her.

"Hey, Cass!"

Her mouth moved up on her own and she tried to suppress the smile. Giving a normal, polite smile instead of the one that had threatened to break out in pure happiness at the sound of his voice and the nickname he'd bestowed her, she turned to him slowly.

"Looks like you're up," he was grinning and there was a slight flush to his face that made her polite smile turn shy, and she fought against herself to not fidget in place. "You ready to go to the park?"

"You're okay to go?" she asked, having thought he'd need to do administrative stuff first.

He lifted his shoulders nonchalantly. "Everyone's free to go whenever they wake up and head over there. You want to go now or have breakfast first?"

She thought about it, ignoring her warm cheeks and the feelings she was trying so hard not to focus on.

"The lines will grow bigger later," she said. "If we go now, this early in the morning, there shouldn't be any lines to deal with."

He laughed gleefully, looking boyish and handsome in his elation. "Excellent! Let's go!"

She broke out in a huge, real smile as she got caught up in his enthusiasm and joy. They walked out of the hotel and to the first shuttle about to leave and found seats.

"What rides should we go on first?" he asked.

"Um, whatever's opened?" she answered hesitantly, not sure since she hadn't really gone to any theme parks before, aside from the local county fairs. "What do you think?"

"The rides that usually have the biggest lines," he said immediately. "That way we get to go on them already and not have to try for them later on, when they're probably going to be swarming with people."

"You're excited," she noted aloud in amusement.

"I haven't gone on rides in a long time," he laughed. "Not since I was younger. I stopped, especially since there wasn't anyone willing to go on the big thrill rides with me, which are the ones I love. Everyone I knew had motion sickness though, so it couldn't be helped. Do you have a problem with them?" he asked then, looking uncertain.

"Uh, I don't know," she shrugged. "I haven't been to a theme park before, so I've never really been on those kind of rides. I'll try it out?"

Alain gave her a reassuring look. "I'll be by your side."

Well, he was eager for them, so they shouldn't be too bad, right?

@};-

He had long strides, which was expected with his long legs. She did herbest to keep up, but she knew he'd noticed when she saw him slowing down for her. He gave her a sheepish look.

"Sorry I'm going too fast."

She grinned at him and waved it off, still caught up in his excitement. Even now though, she could feel her heart beating fast and her cheeks warming, but she tried not to focus on that.

"It's still a bit dark, so let's go on Space Mountain first," he suggested. "Kind of get more of a space feel," he laughed.

She ignored the way her heart skipped a beat and just agreed with him, taking a surprised breath when he reached out and took her hand to rush away with her.

_Don_ _'t be ridiculous, Cassandra. He's not someone you can have feelings for._

This wasn't one of those stupid online stories or some sappy romance novel. This wasn't an Asian graphic novel where this kind of relationship would be the popular trend.

This was reality and reality was that she was his student and he was a little over a decade older than her.

Honestly, here she'd thought that her biggest concern would be feeling alone and lost, and missing her family. She thought she'd be the most depressed about her sister having left her behind to chase after her own dreams while Cassandra wallowed around on her own. Instead, she found herself in this mess and growing feelings she never really thought she would've, and for her principal while she was at that.

It kind of made her wish that Farah was there even more, so that she could have someone to panic about this with...To actually have someone she could talk about her feelings and to basically not hold all this in.

"Ah, looks like we're almost there!" Alain actually whooped, definitely looking practically boyish in his excitement.

The blush on her cheeks was probably noticeable by then, but she hoped he was too preoccupied to notice. But she couldn't help eagerly remembering the way his eyes were lit up in eagerness, the way his lips were stretched in a large grin, and the way his face was so bright with excitement that she could almost forget he was much older than her and their current standing.

But damn it, for a moment, she couldn't even think that they were 15 years apart when he looked so handsome and young, and she could forget it all right then.

"We're here," she found herself saying as she looked around, trying to face away from him and away from what she knew was the truth.

"Looks like there's not much of a line," Alain noted satisfactorily. "I guess everyone preferred sleeping in to waking up early and enjoying the place."

"A lot of them stayed up," she pointed out. "Even if most of them did so in their rooms. And there's still a decent amount of kids out here."

"I seem to be the only adult though," he said in embarrassment.

"Oh? Did you say you were an adult? I could've thought differently the way you've been acting all morning," she deadpanned, which made him burst out laughing, which made her inwardly smile fondly.

"Probably right about that."

They lined up behind some students, who recognized Alain and excitedly greeted him.

"Hey, Mr. Rou!"

"Mr. Rousseau!"

"Look who's up early!"

"Hey, you guys!" Alain greeted back just as enthusiastically. At this, she kept quiet and tried to blend in the background, almost hiding a bit behind him. She wasn't really one for the crowds after all. "Cass, didn't you say you were supposed to take pictures? Come on!"

Her jaw dropped and she ended up looking at him in betrayal. But then again, it's not like —

He looked at her knowingly, not saying a word except to raise an eyebrow at her.

That-that jerk!

He pulled her to his side with some of the others bunching up against her and him and accidentally squeezing them together, so close that he ended up putting an arm around her so that she wasn't squished hard against him. And then more people were squeezing into the picture, with her dazedly noticing that the two taking the pictures had Alain's phone and somehow her phone had ended up in the grasp of the other person. Her face flushed as she was pushed more against Alain and she ended up inhaling the scent of coconut butter off of him, before flashes happened as she looked up.

Oh dear God, what kind of pictures did those came out to be?

Everyone around her broke up into giggly chatter as Alain retrieved both of their phones. He pocketed his and handed over hers.

"I hope you don't mind. You were kind of quiet and hiding behind me, and I also remembered you mentioning that you were supposed to take lots of pictures for your family. So I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone kind of thing," he nudged her gently. "You good?"

She ended up giving him a shy smile she wished she hadn't of. "Yeah, I'm good."

A part of her still wasn't because now she was once again reminded of the way she felt for him,

"Oh, line's moving up a lot. We'll be on soon!" Alain looked like he was ready to break out into cheering.

In fact, a few moments later, once they'd moved up to be next up with some others, he did end up cheering loudly with everyone else. Cassandra wasn't as expressive, but she did laugh quietly to herself (though mostly it was because of him and his reaction).

"Let's go front," he suggested to her and though she felt uneasy, she agreed since he seemed so eager and upbeat about it. It should be alright to sit there...

Sitting with him and getting secured, she waited patiently while he seemed to not be able to sit still.

"Excited much?" she asked in amusement.

"Immensely," he answered back delightedly.

The ride started then and she faced forward, feeling the ride moving slowly while going up in a slant. It wasn't that long until they reached the top of the first slope and then the ride paused. She wondered if there was something wrong, only to have her heart jump and her breath get stuck in her throat as the ride slid forward rapidly. She screamed loudly and her hand shot out to grab the rail in front of her, only to miss several times in her scare. But then another hand reached out and grabbed hers and she looked over at Alain to see him joyfully laughing as he enjoyed the ride.

It did something to her to watch him like this, to see him just be so happy that it made her heart do its own little roller coaster imitation.

And in the midst of all that, he had still found time to try to reassure her when she was screaming her life's worth on her first experience on a crazy roller coaster.

Before she knew it, the ride had stopped, though she felt like she was still on it. They got off of the ride, with Cassandra's legs feeling like jelly and all wobbly. But she found she hadn't minded in the end, not after just bittersweetly enjoying watching how happy Alain was through it. They left to the end, where photos were being advertised and she was surprised Alain led her to it.

"I wonder if we have one," he said and she froze up, wondering if they'd been captured on film and further, if she had been caught staring at him. "It'd be a neat souvenir to have."

They waited and then their photo came up; Cassandra felt like burying herself into a hole as what she feared showed up as it did —her face in wonder while watching him looking so happy. And she hoped it was her imagination, but for a second, he had a strange look on his face when he first saw the photo.

"It looks great," he said and she stared at him. "I think I'll buy one of the packages so we can split the pictures and you can be embarrassed about them," he teased, pulling out his wallet.

"I-I won't be embarrassed," she protested, even though she did end up feeling embarrassed then.

After buying them, he looked at her expectantly. "Again?"

She couldn't help snickering and reluctantly nodding. "Alright, alright."

@};-

They ended up going on Space Mountain a handful of times because of the lack of a huge line, as what was actually the usual. Being it was super early and the lack of people around, especially with the special reservations of the grad trips for all the seniors to there, the lines weren't crazy and they were able to go on as much and as long as they did.

After several turns on Space Mountain, they decided to go around together, stumbling across the Tower of Terror. This ride also didn't really have a long wait, and after their first run on it (which, like with Space Mountain, the ride operator let the current riders enjoy the ride longer than usual), they ended up going on it again since there was practically no waiting. After several more times there, they got off and started to wander around.

"That's one of the best things about being up so early and the grad trips," Alain said. "It's usually not crowded at all, so we don't have to wait in insane lines, and the ride operators tend to allow the rides to go on longer than normal."

"Is that so?" she said, not really knowing much about this. "I'm glad you're enjoying it like a normal student."

He gave her a side glance. "Was that sarcasm I hear, Missy?"

"Absolutely."

He gave a look of mock hurt. "Ouch. That really hurts, Cass."

"I'm glad."

That made him start laughing and he gave her a shrug. "I'm so helpless against your rebuttals."

She almost blurted out that she was helpless against him, when she shut her mouth and ended up giving him a weak smile instead. His bright smile in return probably made hers pathetic.

"Hey, look! There's Mickey and Minnie Mouse!" He pointed to their left and she saw the famous couple. "Since we're up to picture taking, let's go take pictures with them! It's Disneyland after all. It wouldn't be a trip unless it's complete with them," he said teasingly.

"Why not?" She let herself be tugged in the famous Disney icons' direction.

"Can we get a picture with you?" Alain hailed them, asking enthusiastically.

They were just as enthusiastically waved over and before she knew it, Mickey was on her side with Alain on the other and Minnie on his other side. They were moved closer together and she realized someone was taking their pictures. There were flashes again, like before, and she had the dazed thought she'd never be able to show her family these pictures.


	7. Glass Slipper

"It's getting hot," she noted, squinting up at the sky.

“Don’t blind yourself now,” he joked. “But you’re right. It is. We should go on a water ride.”

She gave him an amused look. “Another ride?”

“But of course!”

“Alright, alright,” she gave in. “Where to, Alain?”

He beamed at her. “You said my name again!”

She was wondering about that actually. “Why is it a big deal and why did you and Ms. Le —Willow insist we did?”

Alain chuckled. “Don’t tell the others I told you and definitely don’t tell the students, but…we made a bet on how many times our names are said and how many students we can get to say them. We were having a little pre-trip fun.”

Cassandra lightly shoved his arm. “You are _such_ a bad influence.”

He gave her a cheeky look. “But, _Mademoiselle_, at least I _am_ an influence.”

That was something she really liked about him. He was light-hearted and funny, and his smiles always made her feel warm and safe. Damn it all, where was Farah when you needed her? She really wouldn’t have minded talking to Henley even…

“Well, if we’re talking water rides, why don’t we go to Splash Mountain?” he returned to their original topic, pulling at his collar. “It really wouldn’t be such a bad idea to get soaked to the bone, with the heat coming in.”

“I like that idea,” she dared to take his hand and when he not only didn’t say anything about it but held on tighter, she happily squeezed it and led the way to where she remembered Splash Mountain being.

If only she could always be this bold.

“Oh, there’s a bit of a line,” she said as they got nearer. Which made sense, with it now becoming closer to noon and the park becoming livelier. Still, it wasn’t yet that bad, so they’d come in on a good enough time for it. It was timed even better to help fend off the heat, and enough to have said heat dry them off through the day to the time it would be later and cool again.

“We’ll just line up then,” Alain said. “Shouldn’t be that long.”

But she stopped smiling after a minute or two in line, because though it wouldn’t be long as usual, didn’t mean there wouldn’t _be some time_. She was stuck with Alain for who knows how long.

Not that Cassandra hadn’t been with him all this time already! This was just…different.

“Have you ever been to Samoa?” Alain suddenly asked her.

“No,” she answered, feeling relieved to have the silence broken. She felt like she would’ve tensed up and blurted out something stupid otherwise. “Have you been to France?”

“I haven’t,” he surprised her by saying. “I would like to though.”

“Me too,” she said, continuing. “Uh, to Samoa, I mean. Not France. Though France is great! I’d like to go there too,” she stammered before mentally shaking her head at herself.

Alain laughed lightly, shoving his hands into his pockets and leaning back against the wall. “It would be nice to go to Samoa too. I wouldn’t mind vacationing and enjoying the sights.”

They started to inch up a lot more and when they stopped again, he turned back to her.

“Do you want to eat something after this?”

Now that he mentioned it, her stomach was a tinged achy and she felt a bit of that hunger. She actually forgot that she hadn’t had breakfast either.

“We could go find something quick or something on the go?” she suggested.

“Okay,” he agreed.

Another few inches.

“Would you want to visit France with me?” he asked jokingly and her mouth opened and replied before she could shut it. “Yeah.”

He blinked while she became mortified. “I mean, we’ll just be taking it to a next level after Disneyland, right?” she forced her voice to keep light and bordering teasing and he thankfully started to laugh.

“We’ll have to go to Samoa next then,” he nudged her shoulder with his arm. “Or go to Samoa first and then go to France.”

They moved along a little bit more and she could see the end of the line and the start of the ride. She thought she’d feel relief, but disappointment came instead as their quiet little time, their private talk in their little bubble would soon be interrupted.

_Just take what you can get_.

Really, that was all she could do. She knew where they stood. Even if she became 18 soon enough, or graduation came upon her, there was still that age gap and all of that meant he would never look at her in the same way she wished he would —the way she did him.

A part of her whispered regret about coming onto this trip after all, because then she wouldn’t be so enlightened about this absurd infatuation she’d gotten for the man next to her.

Cassandra had never been blind and had been just like everyone else, noting the handsome features of Alain. She had also kept a distance because there had never been a need to be near him or any occasion to interact with him until now. And here she was, finally interacting with him and becoming more and more caught up in her sudden feelings.

They reached the front and were seated at the front of the log. Alain was just short of giddy, which made her reluctantly smile. He was just adorable like this.

“If you start singing ‘It’s a Small World’, I’m going to toss you outta the log,” she warned him.

He opened his mouth and she gave him a look. He shut his mouth, but grinned at her.

“Spoilsport,” he said, making her flick his shoulder.

They were secured in and settled back, and the log began moving. They moved through peacefully, until they went into a darkened area. The animatronics lit up and started singing and Alain started humming along, tapping her hand and giving her a cajoling look. She gave in and started humming with him, enjoying the peaceful ride (minus a few bumps) before their log exited out and started climbing. Just like the roller coaster, she anxiously reached out and Alain took her hand.

Her heart was beating erratically and she wasn’t sure if it was from his hold or from the ride.

They were only a moment at the top of the slope before they dropped. She screamed her lungs out, sputtering as water hit them face first, the surprisingly large wave soaking her from head to toe. When their log evened out and they were being redirected to the ride’s entrance again, she glanced over to her side and saw that Alain was just as soaked as she was. Alain looked back at her, his cheerful smile in place, only to falter as he gave her a strange sort of look.

It didn’t last long and he was looking sheepish and continuing to have a good time, but that look stuck with her.

What was that about?

@};-

“So we’re completely and utterly soaked to the bone,” she commented wryly, then took a bite of a hot dog.

“Sure are,” his eyes crinkled around the corners as he smiled. “We can dry off while walking around. Feels nice at least.”

They continued to walk together after the ride, having nabbed a quick lunch to go. Hot dogs and soft drinks in hand, they were content to look around.

“We should hunt down some princesses though,” Alain said, though what he said made her choke on her drink and give him a weird look. “We could dry off in the mean time, but at least you can take more pictures and have them with the princesses here?”

“Okay,” she thought about it.

“I’ll take the pictures since it might be difficult to find someone who would,” he said and she felt a bit disappointed before brushing that away. She needed to get a grip on herself.

“Who’s your favorite?” he asked her curiously as they dumped their stuff into the trash.

“I don’t have one,” she said. “You?”

“Belle,” he said immediately, making her giggle. “Books and all. Plus, she’s French and the story was originally French.”

“’Let’s go find Belle first then,” she started walking off first, with him jogging to catch up to her.

It wasn’t actually that long until she was found though, lucky them. Alain was the one who enthusiastically pulled her after him and asked for a photograph. Snickering to herself, she just stayed back and let him handle it. When she was waved over, she stood next to Belle and Alain was going to take a picture quickly enough and she thought that was enough. Only someone walked by and offered to take one for them.

“Oh, uh,” Alain fumbled, glancing at her

She tried to keep cool, but parts of her were warring with wanting to take a picture with him and the other knowing that it would be a bad idea.

“Thank you so much,” she told the kind woman, whose family waited behind her.

Obviously, her stupid feelings won out.

Alain came over to her and Belle, and stood on Cassandra’s other side. Her breath kind of rushed out of her when he easily placed his arm around her waist and shuffled closer. When it was time to take the picture, Cassandra couldn’t help the smile that stretched painfully wide on her face as her heart raced in her chest.

@};-

They walked around, occasionally catching the princesses and getting similar pictures. Somehow or other, someone would always offer to take a picture for them and she and Alain would be in pictures together.

They looked entirely like a couple in each of them, every time Cassandra looked back at those pictures. She wondered what Alain thought of them and if he thought the same as she did.

“Speaking of princesses, Sleeping Beauty Castle is right there. Do you want to go in and take a walkthrough?” Alain stopped and pointed out the large fairytale castle.

She glanced at it and then him, thinking about going through it together with him. No one seemed to know better and neither of them were saying anything. This entire time was contrived and looked to be like a couple exploring Disneyland together. Going into the castle together seemed like it would become even more obvious and she wondered if he’d noticed how things had become and looked like.

If he’d finally noticed how she felt about him or she’d trip and say or do something stupid.

“I wouldn’t mind,” Cassandra ended up saying and they entered together.

There was a lot of younger kids and tweens in there, along with plenty of families that included those. But it was the handful of couples she eyed, seeing how they stood close together and held hands. She couldn’t help reaching out and grabbing Alain’s hand, feeling extremely mortified by her thoughtless action. She glanced worriedly at him, but he wasn’t looking at her…though he hadn’t pulled his hand away either. She nibbled on her lip nervously, but didn’t dare do anything to bring attention to what she did. Nor was she going to stupidly say something!

“After this, let’s wind down,” he looked at her then. The brief smile he sent her reassured her. “It was a long day, right? We went on a lot of rides and traveled all over the park.”

“Yeah, my feet are killing me,” she admitted. “But then again, it was your fault. You’re the one who wanted to chase princesses.”

“True, true,” he gave her a playful shrug. “But I couldn’t help chasing pretty girls. Although of course, my main companion will always be you.”

That made her almost miss a step and she glanced at him in surprise, though he’d gone back to staring straight ahead again. But…but had that been a flirt? Had he just…flirted with her?

No, no…That’s just in her head.

“Well, you’re a pretty damn good Prince Charming,” she found herself saying and she was despairing over how much she kept daring on revealing herself to him. She didn’t _want_ him to know about her feelings! It would just ruin everything and change their dynamics…

And if he got uncomfortable and stopped things, stayed away…

His head turned slightly and he winked at her. “Glad to be of service.”

She was fine with them just as they were.

Her attention was hard to keep on the castle as they did the walkthrough. No amount of colorful, entertaining dioramas could keep her from thinking about how close she was to Alain…his nice scent of coconut butter…his lovely smile or the way that they were still holding hands…Cassandra couldn’t help but think that they looked like any of the other couples around them.

“You look lost in thought,” Alain commented softly.

“Do I?” she asked. She sighed and looked towards him. “I keep thinking I shouldn’t be selfish and that I need to stop thinking about the impossible.”

“You know,” his hand squeezed hers. “It’s okay to be selfish sometimes. And the impossible? Isn’t always actually impossible.”

Still, there was no way he’d be saying that if he knew what she was talking about. His answer would’ve been the opposite.

“We’re nearing the end,” Alain noticed.

Already? Geez! She really had been lost in thought. She must’ve —wait a second. Why was one of her feet…?

“_Oh my God_,” she face palmed.

“What is it?” he asked in alarm.

She gave him an exasperated look. “I lost my shoe because I was ‘lost in thought.’”

There was silence for a second before he broke out in laughter, doubling over as he laughed at her.

“Hey!” she said indignantly, shoving at him as her face burned. “It’s embarrassing as is!”

He struggled to control himself, but he still ended up with a huge grin on his face as he straightened up. “But that’s actually super cute.”

“_Alain_,” she whined a bit, wanting to cover her face.

“Stay here,” he kept grinning. “I’ll go look for it.”

He went back further into the castle again and she just groaned, rubbing her face harshly. This is so dumb and silly. That’s what she got for being idiotically in love with her principal. Honestly, what idiot doesn’t notice they’d lost a shoe?!

Amazingly, Alain was back soon enough, with her shoe in hand. He held it up, still with that damning grin.

“It wasn’t too far away. You lost it around a corner,” he told her.

She sighed again and held out a hand for it, only to be flabbergasted as he knelt down and held out her shoe.

“We may be inside Sleeping Beauty’s castle, but I suppose Cinderella wanted a cameo,” he quipped. He waited patiently, giving her an expectant look, while she stood there, looking dumbly back at him.

Without another word, she lifted her foot and he held up her shoe, fitting it back onto her foot carefully.

God, what was he? A real life Disney prince?


	8. Once Upon...

“I’m totally exhausted,” Cassandra sighed, stretching and trying to get the kinks out of her muscles. It’s been a really, really long day and she was almost ready to call it.

Almost.

After all, doing so meant that she wouldn’t be near Alain anymore and she wasn’t quite prepared to leave his side just yet. She’d enjoyed the day with him and she admitted her feelings were spinning out of control with the desire to stay by his side longer and longer.

“Let’s relax on a kid ride,” he copied her, stretching as well, before rolling his neck to crack it. “That one seems alright to just sit and relax in.”

She glanced at the one he was talking about and saw the spinning tea cups. She shrugged. It wasn’t too fast, at least for the two of them, and the slow spinning would probably just lull them into a daze.

They lined up and talked about dinner, what they would feel like having before the end to their day, but were quickly let in. It hadn’t been a really long wait and the sun was already setting, as well as the temperature becoming cool.

They sat opposite each other in the tea cup and with Alain’s long legs taking up most of the room, they laughed and adjusted their legs so that hers would nestle neatly in the space between his.

“This isn’t working out at all,” he said dryly.

She giggled. “We _are_ a bit too old for this.”

“Tell that to the adults and teens that are in the other tea cups, Cass.”

The ride attendant came around, making sure everyone was set, and then the ride started. Cassandra let herself smile freely and closed her eyes, tilting her head back and enjoying the soft breeze.

“You look happy,” she heard Alain say quietly.

She opened her eyes and saw him watching her. Her smile widened slightly.

“I am,” her voice was just as quiet.

“I’m glad,” he said and she tentatively, but very obviously, reached out and grabbed his hand. His eyes darted to their linked hands before looking at her.

He didn’t let go.

@};-

From the side of her eyes, she watched him warily. He hadn’t said anything about earlier, but there was something to be said about consciously holding hands and making the decision to do it, especially before their watchful eyes.

There was a constant mantra of _‘He’s your principal. He’s your principal. He’s your principal’_ that kept running through her head. Followed by reminders of their ages and undoubtedly the thought of how much trouble they were going to be in. Not that he was in any way interested in allowing things to get further or that he felt the same. She already knew he’d get in trouble regardless because of his position. She’d be stirring up trouble for him and gossip would follow her.

She didn’t really care about gossip or what was said about her. She _did_ care about him and she didn’t want anything bad happening to him. He was a good person and he cared about his students.

Cassandra also tried to remember he in no way would feel the same as her, and that she shouldn’t be that weird, clingy and desperate girl.

“Relax,” he nudged her. “After a long day, you would think you would want to end it with no stress, not more.”

“I’m relaxed,” she said, but he raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, I was.”

He chuckled and patted her shoulder. “Whatever it is, don’t dwell on it. We’re in Disneyland. It’s magical. Believe in magic, Cass.”

If only magic were real. She wouldn’t mind a little bit of it right now.

“Oh, I guess the park’s set up a graduation dance for the students,” Alain said, looking further up ahead. “You want to go?”

Going meant separating from him. But maybe it was best. Just to help along the process, get her to remember her place.

“Sure,” she said, hoping she sounded normal.

He led the way forward and she noted the way he obviously hadn’t grabbed her hand this time.

She just had to ruin things.

@};-

As they reached the graduation dance setup, they took one look at each other and around them, before looking back at each other. They traded solemn looks.

“I’ll see you later or tomorrow,” he said and she nodded.

They reluctantly parted and Cassandra walked around dazedly, only to quickly be swarmed by familiar girls. A glance through the gap between let her see Alain, who was pulled away by a concerned Ms. Le, who said something to him and with him saying something back.

“Did you just come here with Mr. Rousseau?” Henley questioned eagerly.

Her face flushed dark red and she mentally scrambled around for an answer. She had nothing but the truth. It wasn’t that bad, right?

“Y-yeah,” she replied, doing her best to keep her nerves to herself.

“Oh my God, that’s really sort of cute!” Cecily squealed. “You guys have been hanging out during the bus and the rest stop, right?”

At her nod, the group of girls started giggling, making her feel even more embarrassed. Henley was watching her closely though and had an inquisitive look on her face.

“And I know you said you two would probably be hanging out, but I didn’t think you two really would,” Tory grinned. “Did it end up boring?”

“No, it was actually really, _really_ fun,” Cassandra admitted shyly. “We woke up early and went on all the main rides, so there wasn’t any wait. We went on some of the rides over and over, and the ride attendants were cool enough to let the rides go on for a while. And then afterwards, when it got hot, we went on a water ride, and then we went to the Sleeping Beauty Castle. I kind of spaced out for a moment there and lost one of my shoes,” she laughed clumsily. “Alain found it and gave it back to me.”

“Oh! You call him by his first name?” Georgie asked in surprise, catching that.

Cassandra fought the urge to fidget. “Y-yes? I mean, in our bus, he and Ms. —Willow said for us to use their names.”

It wasn’t like she was lying. That did happen. It just so also happened that she was really used to and comfortable using his name.

Ritz sighed. “Not us. Our bus sucked and we were stuck with Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Rhodes. Totally not fun and rigid.”

“At least you had fun,” Henley smiled widely. “Did you take any pictures? I mean, I know it would be weird with Mr. Rousseau around, but tell me he at least offered to take pictures for you so you can have souvenirs and stuff!”

Her mouth suddenly felt dry. She _did_ have pictures. They were…they were alright. There was…there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. What was she freaking out about?  
“Yeah, I managed to get a lot of pictures,” she said faintly, shuffling in place.

“I want to see!” Ritz said excitedly. “You know me —I love photos! If you want, I can even make a digital album for you or something! It’ll be fun.”

An album of her and Alain that would probably get her and him into so much trouble.

Not seeing a way out, she took out her phone and went for her photo gallery, hands slightly trembling. It was okay. The photos were normal. She was overreacting. She had nothing to be nervous or freaked out about.

She shouldn’t refuse to show them to anyone because that meant something _was_ off with them and wrong _when there wasn__’t_.

Cassandra practically shoved her phone towards Henley and the girls gathered closely around, looking at the photos. They grew kind of quiet, which pretty much shot Cassandra’s nerves.

“Hey, Cassie?” Henley started quietly. “Did you know you two look like a couple in these?”

“W-what? No way!” Oh God, why did her voice have to get all high-pitched?

They slowly turned to look at her and her face probably looked a red mess.

“I-it’s not like that,” she started nibbling at her lip, wanting to hide her face.

“Didn’t say it was,” Cecily said awkwardly.

The music was loud around them, but it couldn’t be anymore quiet for Cassandra at the moment.

“_I_ like him,” she actually said it aloud. “He doesn’t know and it’s not like that for him. I just…you know…realized I like him on this trip.”

“He is really cute,” Georgie nodded, grinning at her.

Cecily winked at her. “Good taste!”

Henley laughed, pulling her into a half-hug. “Lucky you then! You got to end up spending all day alone with him, and just hang out and pretend to be a couple.”

Cassandra smiled a little. “I did…kind of do that. The pictures didn’t help.”

The girls burst into laughter and there was a sort of relieved feeling she felt. She was glad to have some sort of support, when normally Farah would’ve been the one she turned to.

It was nice having this group of girls to talk to and be friends with.

@};-

After they were all kind of dancing in place while she told them about her day and little details she wanted to gush over (and finally could with these girls), they ended up heading a little more into the main dance area and started dancing for real.

Funnily enough, Cassandra didn’t feel awkward or even hesitated to start dancing with the others. She felt comfortable and was having a great time with the others.

“Hey, Ms. Le’s pushing Mr. Rousseau into the crowd!” Henley shouted, pointing behind Cassandra.

She looked over and saw Alain blushing while looking like he was protesting, but another shove from Willow and some of the teens in the crowd pulling him in, and he’d gotten dragged into the crowd of students. He made a sheepish grin and slowly danced along, until he threw his hands up and gave in, moving along more to the song. There were cheers around them and the music somehow got even louder.

“We should get him to come over here and dance with us!” Cecily yelled above the music, laughing delightedly.

Cassandra was stuck between a protest and _‘yes, please’_, when Ritz went over and tugged on Alain’s arm, dragging him over almost. Her face heated up, but as he came closer, he gave her an amused look. She shrugged and smiled widely.

The others made him start twirling them, and Cassandra got the strangest feeling the others were doing this for her…Supported by a slight push from one of the other girls to the both of them, had Alain and her face to face. He laughed and held out a hand.

“Twirl?” he asked loudly.

She took his hand and he twirled her several times. Then the song stopped and another came on, and she looked at Alain and he kept that silly grin on as he shrugged. He bounced his head along and swayed to it, moving in a bit. She bit her lip and then echoed him, swaying along as well.

“If I step on your toes, I’m not sorry,” she told him.

“I can take it,” he said smugly.

She giggled and accepted his hand again, jumping up and down with him and bobbing her head. They kept laughing and becoming breathless, twirling each other and swaying side to side, just bouncing on the balls of their feet. They sang along, traded places, and when the song slowed down, they did too —and they stared into each other’s eyes as they swayed to the song. Her heart was beating too fast and she realized that she couldn’t do this; she really just needed to leave right then.

She didn’t run because there were too many bodies in her way and too many eyes prying.

The song’s bass was loud and felt like it was drumming in her body, and she was just exiting the crowd and rapidly walking off when she heard him.

“Cass! Wait!”

The song drew to a close and she almost, _almost _started running away.

She barely made it some ways away, enough to be covered by the crowd of other tourists and made it to a dimmer, less populated place, but where the music was still loud and clear, and playing through speakers around.

The classic song _Once Upon a Dream_, performed in a low, melancholic and dreamy form, drifted in the background and her hand was grabbed before she could take another step. Turning halfway, she saw Alain there, looking pained.

“Cassandra.”

That was the first time he’d said her name entirely and it made her breath hitch. He stepped closer to her and pulled her close enough that their fronts brushed for a moment, and then their hands were clasped and one of hers was on his shoulder and his on her waist and they were too close, too much to be just a principal and student dancing nonchalantly in a crowd of onlookers.

“May I have this dance?” he whispered.

“We’re already dancing,” her voice just as low as they swayed.

“I thought it prudent to ask anyway.”

This time, as their eyes met again, she didn’t feel the urge to pull away and run. Instead, she was rooted to the spot with him, dancing the night away to a fairytale song like she was living a fairytale.

“Once upon a dream, I saw a smile and I couldn’t look away,” she said softly and it was almost a confession.

His face was too sad, too sweet and she wished she could smooth it away and find her sweet, soft smile that made her love him in the first place.

Alain leaned down and she saw the first fireworks of the night erupt, just as he kissed her and she closed her eyes.

She kissed him back and for just a little while, she could believe in fairytales.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is actually my favorite chapter and the one I've been waiting and eager to write since the beginning lololol...I should probably list the songs I've been using, but I'll start with this chapter.
> 
> Playlist:  
Chapter Nine:  
Do the Hippogriff by The Weird Sisters  
Closer by Tegan and Sara  
Once Upon a Dream by Lana Del Rey


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